Looking back at 2014: recruitment

With more crew joining the superyacht industry, the reruitment sector has grown considerably, with a number of new agencies launching in 2014. We hear from the recruitment agents about the trends they've noticed when dealing with growing numbers of crew.…

More crew are joining the superyacht industry and the recruitment sector is dealing with increasing requests, enquiries and placements. The recruitment sector has grown in 2014.

This this has been proven by a number of recruitment agencies joined the pool in 2014.

The Crew Academy launched its recruitment division, The Crew Hunter, focusing on placing interior crew they have trained. Read the story here.

Online recruitment portal SuperyachtJobs.com saw its re-launch this year, providing improved functionality for jobseekers and employers alike, as well as offering a new shoreside recruitment function. Read the story here.

2014 also saw a few number of new faces heading up some familiar recruitment agencies:

As part of its acquisition by Sovren Group, Dovaston Crew announced its new managing director Helen Warren. Read the story here.

Nautic Crew has a new owner and president, Paul Heymann, who we spoke to about his new venture in the crew industry. Read the story here.

With so much happening over the past 12 months, The Crew Report approached the recruitment industry for their thoughts on 2014.

Sally Aston, recruitment manager at Döhle Yacht Crew, believes that over the past 12 months crew are taking more care to consider the recruitment agents they will be using. “In 2014 we saw an increased awareness from crew, both existing and prospective, that they had to use MLC-accredited agencies."

Another trend Aston has noticed is the source of new crew. “It is also noticeable that as yachts get larger and larger there are more applicants coming from the commercial shipping sector. Why? The main reason is that the superyacht sector pays more than the commercial shipping sector. A lot of crew now ask for rotation,” adds Aston; “however these positions are rare.”

Crew coming from the commercial sector is something that Tara Gee from Hill Robinson’s crew department has also noticed. “More and more crewmembers from a commercial background would like to switch to yachting,” she tells The Crew Report, adding that she has seen some financial trends too. “Money has always been an important part of the job, but we have noticed a tendency for candidates to ask for more than what they deserve. They are more dictated by the money than their career sometimes.”

According to Louise Cailbourdin, crewing manager at The Crew Network, 2014 has seen an increase in demand for captain candidates. “The Crew Network has been working on over 100 captain opportunities this year alone. In a buyers’ market, requests are becoming more criteria specific such as the need for an accommodating captain who can help sell a yacht; can optimise charter bookings and can work with yacht management,” explains Cailbourdin. “We are receiving noticeably more requests, from yachts in the 40 to 50m range in both Northern and Southern European yards for new-build or major refit captains with proven success in their shipyard skillset.”

The demand for well-trained interior crew is something that Milicia Seguela, head hunting specialist at The Crew Hunter has noticed since the agency's launch earlier this year. "We have noticed a higher demand for trained stewardesses and that training is being more and more recognised as an investment in individual’s skills and it shows they are serious about making a career in the industry," explains Seguela.

“The Crew Hunter had a high demand this year for junior and senior stewardesses who were trained by The Crew Academy. Along with this we feel there has become a much more stringent recruitment process and now it not only comes down to first impressions and interviews but yachts are now also trialing as many candidates as possible so they are able to see how stewardesses in particular junior stewardesses perform and act in a professional environment and within their crews.”

With more crew joining the industry, the recruitment sector will continue to evolve and The Crew Report will be sure to keep its readers abreast of it all in 2015.

If you've found this story to be 'a report worth reading', and you would like to enjoy access to even more articles, insight and information from The Superyacht Group, then you may well be interested in our VIP print subscription offer. We are inviting industry VIPs to register for a complimentary subscription to our print portfolio, which includes the most insightful information on the state of the superyacht market. To see if you qualify for our VIP subscription package, please click here to fill in an application form

YANMAR MARINE INTERNATIONAL (YMI) has announced the appointment of a new Nordics Regional Manager to strengthen and unify its sales, after-sales, and marketing presence in the area. Bringing several years of experience in consulting and implementing chang…

VEEM Ltd (ASX:VEE) has sold its first VG260SD gyrostabilizer to the Spanish Friere Shipyard to be installed in a patrol vessel for the Government of Kuwait.
The announcement follows confirmation from VEEM last week that it had signed a contract to supp…